The 2021Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination commenced on Saturday nationwide with about 1.3 million candidates expected to sit for the two-week long exercise conducted by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB).
The examination is scheduled to take place between Saturday, June 19 and July 3, 2021.
The number of registered candidates for this year’s examination fell below the two million mark for both UTME and Direct Entry recorded by the Board in the previous years.
The examination commenced as early as 7am at Global Distance Learning Institute, Abuja, with minor hitches.
But in Lagos, candidates were frustrated with the frequent server outages, especially at places described as sub-standard centres.
At the Connection Computer Training Institute, Ojo, Lagos, for instance, candidates suffered loss of valuable time occasioned by intermittent system stoppage.
Sadly, the operators of the centre were incapable of proving any solution to the technical challenges. The consequence was inability by the candidates to answer all the questions.
In Akure, Ondo State capital, the examination commenced around 7:30 am as scheduled.
The centre at the Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA) was filled with the applicants as early as 6:30 am, waiting for the officials.
There were complaints by some candidates as 60 were turned back and prevented from taking part in the examination.
Some candidates explained that JAMB officials at the examination venue said there was an error in their thumbprint.
Some applicants decried the development, lamenting that they travelled to Akure from far-flung towns such as Okitipupa, Ore, Igbokoda and others to write the examination.
A JAMB official however promised that a new date will be forwarded to them, assuring that the error will be corrected.
Some candidates also complain about technical hitches encountered in the process.
The situation was not different in some other centres including one at the Public Service Institute at Ilara-Mokin.